Category Archives: spreads/creams/patés

Spring is all about the wild, young greens so vibrant and tempting after the long, barren winter. Besides salads, where delicate leaves such as ramson, celandine or dandelion are best consumed fresh and raw, there’s a variety of traditional dishes where one can enjoy the more rough ones such as nettles or docks in cooked versions.

This recipe here came about unexpected, as I have been making a lot of the traditional nettle dish this spring. One day friends were announced for lunch and so that morning I put a handful of cashews to soak. After a few hours, between preparing other dishes, I blanched the nettles (without even removing the stems), thrown them in the food processor over the cashews and added olive oil, quite some lemon juice and, at the end, two small bundles of lovage – what was to give the very special flavour to this dish. I guess some fresh ground pepper could also work in there.

The pesto turned out so rich and yet so fresh, that I decided it needed a patent :)) We had it next to potatoes and coleslaw and of course some fresh spring leaves. Enjoy it too!

When I use turmeric, I feel that my dishes are not only vibrantly golden, but also nutritiously stronger. No wonder it has more health uses than any other medicinal herb! Over time, I learned to keep it handy and add it to almost any food being cooked over the fire or to sometimes use it for creating the loveliest salad dressings.

Most often, I let myself drawn by imagining how other vivid colors would look like next to the shining yellow and this is exactly how new taste combinations and dishes turn into reality.

One of the dressings I love the most is inspired by this one, and I particularly like the texture given by the carrots inside, not to mention how well it balances the bitterness of the turmeric. What I use is:

carrots

turmeric

olive oil

tahina / cashews

soya sauce

honey

(mustard)

lemon

balsamic vinegar

garlic

(ginger)

salt

See that mustard is in itself pretty sour, so if you choose it, you won’t need to add vinegar or too much lemon. Similarly when using soya sauce be mindful regarding how much salt you add.

I like the combination between this sauce and the sweetness of chickpeas or the glutinosity of rice.

So here you have it next to a beautiful dark rice soaked in coconut milk and accompanied by autumn veggies – carrot, pumpkin, leek and sweet potatoes, them too sauteed with the magic yellow powder.

This recipe was put together in one of those days when the excitement that I had for trying out a new kind of hummus led to an unexpected number of lunch orders. Yeey!

So when I started, all that I had in mind was: hummus + beets + garlic + thyme. Somewhat of a Mediterranean flavor. But as the process started to take shape, I felt like adding more than that.

One of the main ‘taste’ ingredients turned out to be the smoked paprika powder that I love so much. It almost slipped in by itself as if called by the vivid color of the beetroot 🙂

And then, the main ‘texture’ ingredient, the one that actually holds the whole thing together is the linseeds. Always use it freshly ground and don’t add to much, or you’ll get a slightly unpleasant taste in your food. And on top of that, way too slimy! Unless it’s consumed right away, I actually dislike it in salad.

You can also add onions and parsley, but if you’re going to refrigerate the hummus, better keep it only for serving.

And, as the title points it out, the ‘smoked hummus’ can turn into the perfect filling for those vegan burgers that you wanna prepare when your friends are coming over! Use your imagination to simply add beside nicely sliced veggies and herbs. I even used my dear chapati pan to get the real taste of the flat bread 🙂

When it comes to raw sweets, things can be either superfancy or superfast. It’s up to you. So unless you dream of a three layered cake that needs to stay in the freezer for a while, have a look at these deserts ideas:

– cashews are the best: they’re fat&creamy and need no more than 4hrs to soak. in the photo above they stand as the base for a cinnamon cacao desert (with star fruit on top)

– dates too! i love dates not only for their perfect sweetness, but also because of their texture – they give just about the right firmness to the composition

– in case you don’t have any of these two, you can improvise with oats or other grains (it won’t be raw though). just soak them for a bit, then add honey/dried fruits, tahina, grated coconut and of course, your favorite flavors. drop any high expectations about the looks – it’s basically porridge style

Whenever I feel like having something warm, I go for a soup or a puree. The difference between them is only in the amount of liquid you’d add (plain water or the water in which the veggies have boiled). My favorite ingredients are red lentils, root vegetables – carrot, celeriac, parsnip, beets, etc – and pumpkin. And of course plenty of seasonings: ginger, garlic, cumin, turmeric, pepper, chilly, sumac, etc.

Even though I usually go straight to the same method of preparation as in raw food – mixing the ingredients all together – I learned that one of the main tricks of creating flavor when boiling vegetables is to add the seasonings while the process is going on. So, depending on what taste you want as dominant – sweet or spicy – bring the spices to the boil. If you have black or white cardamon seeds, cinnamon bark or bay leaves, these will definitely make the difference. Also adding some onion or garlic at this point will considerably enrich your dish flavor.

When the lentils and veggies have boiled – you can cook them together or separate – just mix everything in your food processor, add a bit ofoil, salt and lemon juice and check if it allows more seasoning. Rather than adding too much oil, lemon or salt, focus on the spices 🙂

– use a high power blender or your immersion blender to get the right texture; it can take in plenty of liquid (the chickpeas water & lemon juice) but make sure it doesn’t turn too watery. i’ve discovered that adding red lentils (around a quarter of the whole quantity of chickpeas) will help a lot in achieving a soft fluffy hummus.

– depending on your taste, you can decide upon the quantity of each one; however, the main one is parsley and you should use it abundantly (especially because the citric acid contained in the pomegranate/lemon juice will half the initial quantity you started with)

– don’t add too much salt or you risk loosing the unique sweet & sour flavor of the salad

– alternatively, you can use buckwheat instead of bulgur. even cauliflower rice works out well, but then it’s something else than the original 🙂

– garnish it with pomegranate seeds or some nice olives

And if you don’t have bread – a good homemade bread or pita – try for once to have the hummus on spinach leaves. It could look like this 🙂

Or you can simply go for your favorite salad as a side dish

list of ingredients

1. hummus

chickpeas – soaked overnight and boiled until tender

tahina

olive oil

lemon juice

salt

optional:

cumin, garlic, zatar, sumac, nigella seeds

2. tabbouleh

parsley

tomatoes

(cucumber)

onion

bulgur / buckwheat

olive oil

lemon juice/pomegranate juice or concentrate (careful at the preservatives inside!)

Every time I want to have a colorful impressing dish, I make this wonderful pate, which goes perfect as a spread on any vegetable.

I drop in the blender hydrated sunflower seeds, grated beetroot, lemon juice, salt and coriander powder. If you wish, you can add a bit of oil, but it’s not really necessary as the seeds provide enough fat. In summertime, fresh mint goes excellent as well. That’s it!

Ever since I’ve encountered cashew I found it intriguingly soft and exotic. The best part of it is that you can easily turn it into a salty spread or a delicious desert. Either way, be generous with the lemon juice.

For this one I used fresh mint, garlic and salt. Put the hydrated nuts into the food processor, add the seasonings and mix well. I was inspired by the way my mother use to stuff the peppers with soft cheese and then slice it, but I have to admit the texture here is not firm enough as the cheese 🙂 Better serve it as a spread on any kind of peppers or leaves.

If you don’t have enough cashew, you can easily incorporate some grated coconut and carrot. Instead of fresh mint, use dry one or simply mint water . Just get rid of the garlic and you’ll get a pretty fancy spread. Serve it with pomegranate seeds and juice and you’ll have a winner for the dinner!